MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 COLLECTION, VOL. 3

I have to be honest here and express a vague disappointment with this
particular box set.

Fans of this now defunct TV
show which parodies really bad movies will be delighted, but newbies would
be better off beginning elsewhere, maybeMystery Science Theater 3000 - the Movie or
Eegah. I don't know, but except for the so-called
Shorts disc (which consists of short educational films mostly from the
1950s being lampooned - hilariously funny!),
this set feels a bit average.

Some fun is to be had, but the jokes could have been funnier and - I know
that one shouldn't admit to such ignorance - but it felt as if I had to
look up a lot of the obscure pop culture references in the jokes being
made here.

Episode 320:
THE UNEARTHLY (with shorts: Posture Pals and Appreciating Our Parents)
-
The shorts here are the best. The movie itself is about an evil scientist
(played by John Carradine) and Tor Johnson (of
Plan 9 from Outer Space fame) as his slow-witted lab assistant.

Episode 518:
THE ATOMIC BRAIN (with short: What About Juvenile Delinquency?) -
Similar to The Unearthly, the action in The Atomic Brain is
set mostly in a huge mansion and again has an evil scientist experimenting
on the victims lured there under false pretences (in this case, several au
pair posts). Also reminded me of The Brain That
Wouldn't Die.

MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER: THE SHORTS, VOLUME 2 (featuring Catching Trouble,
What To Do On A Date, Last Clear Chance, A Day At The Fair, Keeping Clean
& Neat and The Days of Our Years) -
The so-called ?shorts? are brilliant, maybe because of the sheer delicious
subversive thrill of the mere
idea of making snotty remarks while watching the sort of documentaries one
had to endure as a school kid.

THE DISCS: All of these episodes have been/is available on video as
well. No new material then. Unlike some of the
MST3K DVDs (Box Set Volume 1, The Brain That Wouldn't Die)
the original non-spoofed movies aren't included here. I know some die-hard
fans complain about this but seriously ? do you really want to sit through
let's say, Sidehackers without the jokes?

WORTH IT? Few extras
-
as always. And I still maintain more
episodes could have been fitted onto a disc. Call me a quantity over
quality guy, but here the quality is also lacking.